Steve@BBT
04-28-2004, 01:47 PM
Sorry it took me until today to post, but I've been really busy either working at the shop, guiding or doing nothing at all! ;^)
After posting my report on Friday I went to work in the shop from noon until around eight pm. Traffic was steady for the opener, but as in recent years nothing like it used to be. It seems that neither opening day of trout or rifle season is anything like even seven or eight years ago. We used to have to keep the shops open around here until midnight or better for both with constant heavy traffic, but more and more folks are either already partially fished/hunted out by then or have opted to let the crowds go first and trickle up later...
After closing the shop Bob and I went to some friends "camp" for some festivities where I celebrated to the point of being very glad I didn't have to work again until noon on Saturday. Taz, on the other hand, had no problem getting up a little earlier and heading out for an opening day float with John. He also got to play with his friend Lucy quite a bit and was whipped and happy to say the least by the time he returned that evening. The guys reported some decent streamer fishing and a fair number of Steelies around that they, for the most part, left alone.
On Saturday the shop was again steady with some periods of heavy activity and most anglers reported hitting at least a few fish. Best activity was in the late morning and afternoon as it was very cold first thing, but turned very nice later. I was slotted to open on Sunday so after closing the shop at eight again I did the smart thing and went straight home.
The weather turned on Sunday and the shop was slower. A combination of anglers going home due to the weather and others simply sleeping in made for a long morning, but I muddled thru it with a few anglers here and there to talk with, a slower day on the streams was the word as well. Spent the rest of the afternoon/evening going thru my gear and getting ready for the switch to primarily trout.
Monday morning found me on the river for a half day float with anglers Don and Vince. We opted for the seven to noonish float and decided to concentrate on Steelies as long as we found enough to do so, it wasn't a problem and the river looked great with a slight stain. We wound hitting something like four different spots with fish in front of us everywhere except one pool we tried. (Probably was fish there also, but no takers.)
The weather was great and a half dozen or so legitimate hookups with Steelhead, one or two foul hooked and broken off ones, a pre-migrant and a very nice resident Rainbow made for a very productive few hours of fishing. I couldn't help but wonder how well we would have done with streamers, it just "felt" like a great day for it. We saw two other boats and one group of walk in anglers the entire time...
http://bbt.steelcity.net/4-26-04-1.jpg
http://bbt.steelcity.net/4-26-04-2.jpg
After getting off the river, back to the shop and seeing my clients off I stood outside in my t-shirt sipping a tasty ale and contemplated going back out. It didn't take very long to decide and it didn't take much to convince Herb to go along, it still "felt" like a great day for some streamer stripping and both of us were eager to have a good oarsman take us down. Shortly after launching with the truck already spotted the weather took a sudden turn. Temperatures dropped, winds picked up big time, there were periods of hail, heavy rain, light rain and short spurts of sunshine. The crazy mix did nothing for that great "feel" it had prior to that and we only turned a couple of small trout for our efforts, but thoroughly enjoyed our time on the water and the conversation, It's good to finally have time for friends.
I never even got dressed yesterday taking my second "day off" in so many weeks and thoroughly enjoying it again! I had contemplated going out to try and fill my Turkey permit or fishing, but when I woke in the morning and saw the snow coming down along with the snow on the ground I decided against it... What's with this weather? It didn't stick around of course once it got brighter out, but there were flurries off and on all day and that was enough to convince me to do nothing. I opened the shop this morning in a decent little rain shower that went to fairly heavy hail at one point, it's cleared up now and is supposed to kind of stay that way for a little while. All in all I'd say we only got enough precip to just keep a slight stain and maybe bring the water up an inch at best. (In the upper to mid sections.)
At the moment I don't plan on hitting a stream or river until next Wednesday when Bob and I are going to go somewhere. I'll be spending this afternoon shooting my gun again to ensure accuracy and in the morning I'm going out with a buddy to try and fill my permit. If I'm successful I might hit a river/stream in the afternoon or on Friday, but otherwise I'll more than likely hunt all day and Friday. (Without help I'll have to be lucky, I'm a terrible caller!) Friday night, all day Saturday and Sunday will be spent out at Bob's (Also where I turkey hunt.) with a large group of friends planting something like 2900 trees and otherwise having a great time...
I just booked Herb a trip for tomorrow and he's out on Friday as well. Look to his page (http://www.fishbaldwin.com/Reports/Reports.cfm?author=Herb) for a new report before mine, I'll be taking a report vacation of sorts until "at least" next Thursday or Friday night after my guide trip.
The date for the spring outing/cleanup has been solidly set at June 5th now and we're hoping that it's enough notice to get a good turn out. Go to this link/our forum, (http://www.fishbaldwin.com/Forum/) sign up as a member if you haven't and then go to the thread for the cleanup to shout "I'm in" if you'll be there. We've got some time to plan, but the sooner we know or have an idea of how many might show the sooner we can get things rolling!
That's it for now and for a while, till next time,
tight lines!
Steve
After posting my report on Friday I went to work in the shop from noon until around eight pm. Traffic was steady for the opener, but as in recent years nothing like it used to be. It seems that neither opening day of trout or rifle season is anything like even seven or eight years ago. We used to have to keep the shops open around here until midnight or better for both with constant heavy traffic, but more and more folks are either already partially fished/hunted out by then or have opted to let the crowds go first and trickle up later...
After closing the shop Bob and I went to some friends "camp" for some festivities where I celebrated to the point of being very glad I didn't have to work again until noon on Saturday. Taz, on the other hand, had no problem getting up a little earlier and heading out for an opening day float with John. He also got to play with his friend Lucy quite a bit and was whipped and happy to say the least by the time he returned that evening. The guys reported some decent streamer fishing and a fair number of Steelies around that they, for the most part, left alone.
On Saturday the shop was again steady with some periods of heavy activity and most anglers reported hitting at least a few fish. Best activity was in the late morning and afternoon as it was very cold first thing, but turned very nice later. I was slotted to open on Sunday so after closing the shop at eight again I did the smart thing and went straight home.
The weather turned on Sunday and the shop was slower. A combination of anglers going home due to the weather and others simply sleeping in made for a long morning, but I muddled thru it with a few anglers here and there to talk with, a slower day on the streams was the word as well. Spent the rest of the afternoon/evening going thru my gear and getting ready for the switch to primarily trout.
Monday morning found me on the river for a half day float with anglers Don and Vince. We opted for the seven to noonish float and decided to concentrate on Steelies as long as we found enough to do so, it wasn't a problem and the river looked great with a slight stain. We wound hitting something like four different spots with fish in front of us everywhere except one pool we tried. (Probably was fish there also, but no takers.)
The weather was great and a half dozen or so legitimate hookups with Steelhead, one or two foul hooked and broken off ones, a pre-migrant and a very nice resident Rainbow made for a very productive few hours of fishing. I couldn't help but wonder how well we would have done with streamers, it just "felt" like a great day for it. We saw two other boats and one group of walk in anglers the entire time...
http://bbt.steelcity.net/4-26-04-1.jpg
http://bbt.steelcity.net/4-26-04-2.jpg
After getting off the river, back to the shop and seeing my clients off I stood outside in my t-shirt sipping a tasty ale and contemplated going back out. It didn't take very long to decide and it didn't take much to convince Herb to go along, it still "felt" like a great day for some streamer stripping and both of us were eager to have a good oarsman take us down. Shortly after launching with the truck already spotted the weather took a sudden turn. Temperatures dropped, winds picked up big time, there were periods of hail, heavy rain, light rain and short spurts of sunshine. The crazy mix did nothing for that great "feel" it had prior to that and we only turned a couple of small trout for our efforts, but thoroughly enjoyed our time on the water and the conversation, It's good to finally have time for friends.
I never even got dressed yesterday taking my second "day off" in so many weeks and thoroughly enjoying it again! I had contemplated going out to try and fill my Turkey permit or fishing, but when I woke in the morning and saw the snow coming down along with the snow on the ground I decided against it... What's with this weather? It didn't stick around of course once it got brighter out, but there were flurries off and on all day and that was enough to convince me to do nothing. I opened the shop this morning in a decent little rain shower that went to fairly heavy hail at one point, it's cleared up now and is supposed to kind of stay that way for a little while. All in all I'd say we only got enough precip to just keep a slight stain and maybe bring the water up an inch at best. (In the upper to mid sections.)
At the moment I don't plan on hitting a stream or river until next Wednesday when Bob and I are going to go somewhere. I'll be spending this afternoon shooting my gun again to ensure accuracy and in the morning I'm going out with a buddy to try and fill my permit. If I'm successful I might hit a river/stream in the afternoon or on Friday, but otherwise I'll more than likely hunt all day and Friday. (Without help I'll have to be lucky, I'm a terrible caller!) Friday night, all day Saturday and Sunday will be spent out at Bob's (Also where I turkey hunt.) with a large group of friends planting something like 2900 trees and otherwise having a great time...
I just booked Herb a trip for tomorrow and he's out on Friday as well. Look to his page (http://www.fishbaldwin.com/Reports/Reports.cfm?author=Herb) for a new report before mine, I'll be taking a report vacation of sorts until "at least" next Thursday or Friday night after my guide trip.
The date for the spring outing/cleanup has been solidly set at June 5th now and we're hoping that it's enough notice to get a good turn out. Go to this link/our forum, (http://www.fishbaldwin.com/Forum/) sign up as a member if you haven't and then go to the thread for the cleanup to shout "I'm in" if you'll be there. We've got some time to plan, but the sooner we know or have an idea of how many might show the sooner we can get things rolling!
That's it for now and for a while, till next time,
tight lines!
Steve